Camp Tuscazoar History

"You are a stranger here but once."

First central camp (now Old Campsite) - 1920's

For many decades, Camp Tuscazoar served as a Boy Scout camp, owned and
operated by the Buckeye Council,
headquartered in nearby Canton. The first scouts who camped in this area had
no idea that this would become a full-time council camp. They just knew that
they were going to spend the weekend at Bill English's farm near Zoarville.
Mr. English was one of the first commissioners in the McKinley Council (a
predecessor of the current Buckeye Council) and a great friend of Scouting.
So, whenever they could, the first Canton scout troops would escape the city
and head down to the farm

In 1920, Canton’s Troop 5 began building a cabin in the area. A year
later, the newly-formed Canton Scout Council chose an open meadow a
half-mile away for its summer camp. That first summer camp was held in
1920 at what is now the Johnny Appleseed campsite, and the camp then
received a name: Wilderness Camp. The program and the popularity of the site
continued to grow, and council leadership recognized the need for a
permanent camp where the scouts could have their programs and activities.
Thus, in 1924, council benefactor Frank G. Hoover provided the funds that
bought the first tract of 65½ acres and placed it in trust for the benefit
of the scouts. The next year, the name "Tuscazoar" was selected as the name
for the new camp—a combination of the words Tuscarawas and Zoar, as both
have played a significant role in the history of the land composing the
camp.

I.W. Delp places the first stone at Pioneer Point tohonor the
soldiers who died at Ft. Laurens - 1925

Also in 1924, a camp honors program was developed by C. L. Riley, Charles
Mills, and George Deaver. Known as "Pipestone",
the program was eventually expanded to five degrees, one of which could be
earned each summer. The Pipestone program,which continues to this day in the
Buckeye Council's summer camp, has been very popular with campers over the
years and is credited with Buckeye Council's high repeat attendance at
summer camp year after year.

The camp continued to take shape. Cabins were erected, wells were dug, a
parade ground was built, and other facilities were constructed. In 1927 the
centralized camp plan, used since the first Wilderness Camp, was changed to
three troop villages. A nursery was started at the present Turkey campsite
to launch a reforestation program for the many fields and clear-cut areas of
the camp. In those days, Tuscazoar did not have many wooded areas.
Eventually, craft houses were built in each of the villages and Scouts
learned to make useful ceramic items fired in George "Chief" Deaver's
pottery kiln.

First camp entrance near Pioneer Point - 1926

"Chief" Deaver served as both Scout Executive of the McKinley Area Boy
Scout Council and as leader of the Pipestone program. Because of this dual
role, he became known to all Scouts as "Chief" Deaver, or simply as "Chief"
to those who knew and worked with him. The relationship between "Chief"
Deaver and Tuscazoar lasted more than 30 years.

By 1930, the camp was comprised of 160 acres and operations were in full
swing, with almost all of the new camp buildings situated right along the
Tuscarawas River. There were a number of reasons for this, the most pressing
of which was that river access was important for swimming and bathing
because the camp lacked shower facilities!

However, in the 1930's trouble began brewing for the camp. Authorities
announced a new WPA project for the area, a huge cement dam and reservoir to
be constructed just below the camp under the authority of the Muskingum
Watershed Conservancy District. Plans called for water contained in the
reservoir to be backed up into the camp's central area. In addition, the
Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad, which ran between the camp and the river,
would have to be relocated to a higher, newly-built, right-of-way. In order
to construct this new right-of-way the hillsides along the river, on which
many of the camp buildings sat, would have to be blasted away.

Dan Beard Lodge (originally Hoover Lodge) - 1940's

A higher railroad, demolition of most of the camp's buildings, and a huge
lake in the middle of the camp, taken together, meant the end of camp
operations—and the council seriously contemplated abandoning Camp Tuscazoar.
The council and the Conservancy District were also unable to agree on values
for the camp's buildings and land, and a lawsuit ensued. Things were settled
in 1937 when George Markley, president of the Tuscarawas Mineral Land
Company, agreed to sell the council a 336 acre tract south of the camp's 160
acres, which included such camp landmarks as Buzzard's Roost and most of the
remaining Zoarite Iron Ore Mines—where the Separatists who founded Zoar
mined iron ore to feed their furnace located just north of the camp.

Most importantly, this purchase provided land for the reconstruction
of
central camp facilities and persuaded the council to stay at Tuscazoar.
Also, the Conservancy District agreed to construct an
Leaf identification at summer camp - circa 1960
access culvert under
both the old and new railroad rights-of-way to allow the scouts continued
access to the river, and announced that the Dover Reservoir would be a dry
reservoir, to contain water only when necessary to control flooding
downstream. The old camp buildings were then demolished, the railroad
relocated, and central camp rebuilt where it is today.

With the camp rebuilt, life at Tuscazoar settled into summer after summer
of boys coming to camp, learning about the natural world and growing into
healthy and productive citizens. Although attendance remained high
throughout the Forties, Fifties, Sixties and Seventies, the council
determined that it was necessary to obtain a new camp and combine the
operations of Camp Tuscazoar and its sister council camp,
Camp Buckeye near
Beach City. Thus, in 1984 Camp Tuscazoar was sold by the council to the
Kimble Family of Dover, ending more than 60 years of Boy Scout ownership.
The last Boy Scout summer camp held at Tuscazoar was over the summer of
1986. After the final week of summer camp ended, Camp Tuscazoar was closed
and all useable equipment was transferred to the new council camp near
Kensington, known as the
Seven Ranges Scout Reservation.

Stockade entrance and totem pole - 1986

Almost immediately, Camp Tuscazoar alumni formed the Camp Tuscazoar
Foundation, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation with the stated purpose of
"acquiring, perpetuating and maintaining Camp Tuscazoar." The founding
members believed that the camp was a valuable resource that should be kept
open and maintained for the benefit of youth, families and the community and
set about accomplishing those goals. The Kimble Family agreed to lease the
camp to the Foundation and scouts began camping there again in 1987.

Another huge milestone was reached in December of 1989 when the Kimble
Family generously donated 110 acres containing the central camp area to the
Foundation. Several smaller purchases of land in 1997 from the Muskingum
Watershed Conservancy District along the Tuscarawas River added a hiking
trail, and later that year the Foundation accepted the donation of the
Zoarville Station Bridge
from Charles Lebold, which included a permanent right-of-way for a hiking
trail from the bridge to SR 800. With the restoration of the bridge,
Tuscazoar patrons can now access the Ohio-Erie Canal Corridor and safely
hike north to Zoar and Ft. Laurens.

Summer camp staff - 1986

The Foundation has continued to strive to acquire the remainder of the
camp while improving camp facilities. Several structures have been built in
the last few years, including the
W. C. Moorhead Museum,
a repository of Scouting and camp memorabilia, and the
Richard Belcher
Memorial Lodge, a cabin dedicated to Dr. Richard Belcher, a now-deceased
former camper from North Canton. In 2006, a grant from the Clean Ohio Fund
enabled the purchase
of another 241 acres of the camp by the Foundation, and we have obtained
additional grant funds and hope to complete the purchase of the final 113
acres in the near future.

The camp has hosted numerous groups for a multitude of activities, from
college students fulfilling community service degree requirements to
weddings. The Foundation has also re-established a good working relationship
with former camp owner Buckeye Council. The Foundation is a Friend of
Scouting and strives to assist the council whenever it can. Scouts still
camp at Tuscazoar, as their fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers
before them began doing almost ninety years ago. These youth, and the
friends and families that now call the camp home,
"keep the spirit burning."

In the words of early camp leader I.W. Delp:

"Reluctantly we must turn away from the past so rich in glamour, and get
ourselves back to the realities of the present and the promises of the
future. The river no longer feels the dip of Indian paddle. No more do the
stealthy feet of the red man tread the trails. Stilled forever are the
sounds of Zoarite mining, and the felling of trees for the charcoal burners.
A new day is at hand, with problems no less perplexing, and requiring no
less sterling qualities of manhood for their solution. As the wilderness
built sturdy bodies and splendid characters so necessary for its conquest,
so does it now for the living that looms ahead. In its few years, a thousand
boys have come to love Tuscazoar. In their turn, a host of others will do
the same. As with those who have gone before, they, too, will climb the
hilltops to ponder the heroism, 1abors, and sacrifices of those who have
built this valley, and to resolve to meet the world with as high ideals and
noble purposes. - When in that distant day, if ever it comes, and a final
taps sounds for Tuscazoar, may it truly be said, "Here was done a good
work."

Image Gallery

Hover over each thumbnail to view an image from Camp Tuscazoar's history.